Arthritis / Colitis / Anti Inflamatory / Pain - What do they have in common?

I was in an accident which caused me to started having severe pain. Then the first and second fingers after the thumb started to go white or sometimes blue and I was diagnose with Reynoids.  The pain in my joints started to increase and was placed on Anti Inflamatory medication which helped me a lot. About a year after I started to have rectum bleeding and was diagnose with Ulcerative Colitis and was also taken off the Anti Inflamatory.  Now I am having major pain in my hips and the pain in my joints are worst my haemoglobin on my last blood test came in at 96 which is better than it was in June (72).  I am scheduled to have a signoidoscopy done but would like to know what caused what. Is it the colitis that is causing the increased pain and what caused the colitis was it there before the arthritis.

[Concerned lady]

I found an interesting website that says, "To complicate matters, infections and MEDICATIONS, such as aspirin and Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), can sometimes "trigger" the onset of IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, including Ulcerative Colitis & Chrohn's Disease), or expose pre-existing but silent IBD. (NSAIDs include many common over-the-counter PAIN MEDICATIONS, such as ADVIL, MOTRIN, and ALLEVE.)"

This quote was in the second paragraph of the article. The article describes the many different possible causes of Ulcerative Colitis, and also tells what OTHER SITUATIONS are MISTAKENLY called Ulcerative Colitis.

The name of the website is "IBD Disguises: Diseases That May Mimic Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis"

The article comes from the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America.

Here's a link to this article/website:

http://www.ccfa.org/news/previous/news1201b.htm

The article says that "Stopping these drugs leads to resolution of the symptoms", so hopefully your colon will heal up, since you have STOPPED taking the anti-inflammatory drugs.

Ask your doctor to read this article and explain it to you.

Good luck! Also think about checking into "holistic health" (and health food stores' book sections) for some natural remedies, with approval of your doc(s)!

Sincerely, Concerned lady
***@****      http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com

[dolor]

I know this may not be what you are looking for but if you listen to this you may find some insight into your problem. Also listen to "concerned lady" she seems very sincre and knowelageable.
About 5 years ago I began getting extreme pain and weakness in my joints(knees and hips mainly)The pain got to be so bad I had to go to a Dr. At that time I was only 32 and in exellent health(landscaper) The Dr informed me that I have a rare form of arthiritus(sp). Out of no where I develope this rare form of rhemitoid arthritus. Anyway, the DR. precribes me Vultaran. A very powerful anti inflamitory drug. I started to feel better, but after about 10 days my then heartburn, now severe acid reflux disease, began to really hurt me. It hurt me so bad in fact that I stopped taking the meds. My dr. got mad at me and said that I had better keep taking my meds. I lasted about 1 month total. No more meds, no more DR. As time went by I got sicker and sicker. Keep in mind that I stopped taking the anti- inflanitory meds. I had an endoscopy, ph probe and colonoscopy. For this close to 5 year period I went through several more dr's whom all said there was nothing wrong with me. It was all in my head. Back to the test. After my colonoscopy my GI dr. says " you have Crohns Disease". Now there is much more to this story, but I see no need to go further at this point. I believe that the anti - inflamitory meds jump started my Crohns. I'm sure that every dr out there is jumping up and down and saying "not true". Remember dr's aren't God, they are human beings. They don't know everything, although they sure act like they do. They make mistakes, although they rarely admit it. There are many, many dr's out there. Get you test done and listen to what the dr says. Give his/her advise a fair shake and wait and see. If you are not satisfied keep looking. Don't do anything drastic(surgery) w/out a second opinion. You will make it. Things will all work out. You have a whole group of people here that care and are concerned about you. You can always come to this forum for reassurance, advice or to just let off some steam. Sometimes it's good to just let of some steam. Vios con Dios
                     dolor